“Even social commitments and hectic work schedules challenge our internal clock, causing a syndrome which is generally referred to as “social jetlag”.

Leicester’s research focuses on the study of insect biological timing. Body clocks are molecular mechanisms that regulate biological processes with display oscillation of about 24 hours. They allow organisms to predict the daily environmental fluctuations due to the Earth’s rotation around its axis. What is interesting about insects is that they have exactly the same clock molecules as we humans and all our advances in understanding human clock genes have come initially from identifying these molecules in the fruitfly.

An Open Day to raise awareness on the subject of biological clocks and the use of insects in genetic research is taking place on Saturday 7 June. More info of the event can be found here.